Parade to the penalty box proves costly for Cariboo against Hawks

The Valley West Hawks certainly made their presence felt against the Cariboo Cougars.

It came in the form of Justin Sourdif and Cameron MacDonald who combined for seven points to lead the visitors to a 5-2 victory on Saturday from Kin 1.

The Hawks also potted three power-play goals in the season opener with two of those coming off the stick of Arshdeep Bains.

Cariboo head coach Tyler Brough says the team’s selfish and undisciplined play is what sunk them. “I think 5 on 5 we carried the play but it didn’t happen for us on the PK and we’ll adjust – we should have adjusted sooner during the game but it didn’t happen today so we’ll reset and try and win tomorrow (Sunday).”

On at least two of the Valley West goals, it all came down to positioning. “It’s one thing to get to the battle but it is another to try and win it, we are not winning those battles right now and to succeed we have to win those,” added Brough.

Another difference in the game was the inexperience shown at times by the Cariboo blueline despite only giving up 24 shots.

Brennan Malgunas is the lone defender back from last year’s team.

He believes once the youngsters get more comfortable, the results will come. “We have a lot of new guys and they are just learning how to play in this league. Once they get that down we will be better off as a team and I think the penalties killed us too but once we learn we’ll be fine.”

Josh Dias made 34 saves in the victory for the Hawks while Marcus Allen took the loss in goal for the Cougars.